Finishing a couple 2012 projects...

I love walking into my sewing room and discovering multiple projects that are almost complete.  There is nothing more satisfying than putting in that last stitch.

So that is what happened the other day when I found this table mat - pieced but not quilted.  After auditioning a few backing fabrics, I decided on a nice green print with gold and orange.  The large black floral print has every color in it so it was fun to see what worked best.  You can see the quilting I did on this piece...different that the usual swirls or meandering.  Trying to quilt out of the box a little - I did irregular line quilting and boxed a few of the flowers.  It was fun.

I haven't done much embroidering lately but found this linen towel that needed something more...so I added a ruffle to spiff it up a bit.  I don't have a ruffler so its usually a pain to make ruffles...not difficult but time consuming.  The technique I used was to increase the tension of both the top and bottom thread.  Even after I doubled the fabric, it worked like a charm.  I like the results.

Now off to find some more half finished projects...or I could sew binding on 5 or 6 quilts.  Nah - need something a little more exciting.  That attitude could be why I have so many bindings to sew.

Take care and a very Happy New Year!

 

Bonnie

Ok - so now I'm recycling my socks...

I know its winter here Upnorth when my cat has to sit on my lap every time I sit down and I need my fleece socks to keep my feet warm.  So on a particularly cold, drafty day, I went for my leopard skin print fleece socks.  I pulled them on and WHAT???  The bottom of my foot was cold.  So I pulled them off and checked them out...thin, very, very thin on the bottom.  Now these socks are a few years old...from L.L. Bean so they were good quality but it was very obvious that they had seen better days.  So I put them aside and pulled out another pair.  I have been buying one pair each year so I won't be without my warm fleece socks in case they stop offering them.  One year my youngest daughter and I tried to make them...not so good.  We had lots of laughs though.

Anyway, every day as I walked by those old socks, I thought - I should throw them away.  But they were my favorites so I was dragging my feet - so to speak.

Then one day as I was wandering around my bedroom, it came to me.  Being the recycle queen/artist that I am and being that I've been crocheting wrist warmers to keep myself out of the kitchen and away from eating, I saved those worn out socks from the landfill!

Yup - I made wrist warmers from my beloved leopard skin print socks.  I just cut the socks off above the heel and hemmed them.

My newest fleece print socks.

(Amazing how much bigger my left foot is!!!)

I loved these socks and now they have a new life!

They keep my wrists warm while I crochet

more wrist warmers!!!

More wrist warmers!!!

 

My repurpose, recycle, reuse friends and I laugh about saving empty toilet rolls, plastic creamer containers, and various other items that we stockpile for later reuse.  But I think this repurpose/reuse/recycle is almost genius. 

 

I've loved leopard skin print since I was a junior in high school when I got the most impressive coat that was leopard.  I felt so Hollywood.  Funny how some favorite things just stick with you and bring back such fond memories.

 

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it...and my wrists are warm and so sexy!

 

Take care,

 

Bonnie



Peace...

Life is so Fragile...

This morning 20 little kids were sent off to school by their parents, were met by the school administrators, and were welcomed to their rooms by their teachers. 

Tonight there is only sadness in their homes and across the nation because they are not coming home - not being hugged by their parents - or tucked into their beds - or celebrating Christmas or their special holidays.

May God bless them and their families. 

We pray for the teachers and school administrators who did not get to go home today either. 

May they rest in peace.

Bonnie

Decorating our tree...

I have my tree up and almost decorated...this is very unusual.  Last year was the worst...I think I got my decorations up a little more than a week ahead of Christmas.

I love this season.  But because I have so many decorations, the job of decorating is overwhelming.  Sorting through all the storage containers is hard work!

Anyway here is our tree - not quite done but close.  I just had to add my sparkly snowflakes...it doesn't seem like my tree unless I sprinkle it with snowflakes!

 

 

 

So there it is...almost complete.  I am one of those women that keep tweaking the tree until I take it down.  Now to decorate the rest of the house...that means diving into a storage container or two.

Take care!

Bonnie

 

Our Grand Old Lady...

Our tired Old Barn...

 

We removed 20 small windows

 

Our old barn is no more....today the heavy equipment came and demolished the last of her.  After two years we found someone and his son who did the dance of the dinosaurs and removed the last of the tamarack, roof, logs, and foundation.  I call it the dance of the dinos because that's what it looked like as they swung and crunched and deposited the remnants of our old lady.  They could be surgeons as they sorted through the tin and siding and timbers with precision only learned from experience.  They determined that there was only one layer of shingles on top of the original cedar shakes so she stood for longer than anyone could expect.  One tough old broad...

They arrived at 8 a.m. sharp and didn't want to harm our
white pine coming into the driveway so they unloaded on the road.

Dinosaur #1

 

Dinosaur #2

 

Eating their way through the old barn.

 

Lots of crunching...

 

Eating away from the other side...

 

And then she is no more.

Well - there are the dinosaurs doing their thing and now three or four dumptrucks filled with dirt will come in after they flatten the land a bit.  We are glad to have this part of our old barn complete but the landscape is bare and our new little barn is a little far away from the silo.

I guess this is progress but we miss her statuesque figure out there.  This opening in the land and skyline hasn't been visible for more than 100 years.  She stopped sheltering animals in the year 2000 and now she will be part of things that we build with her timbers and siding.  So she lives on...

I'm still sad,

Bonnie

We Do Love Our Quilt Retreats!!!

What better activity to be involved in when the weather is gloomy and the ground is almost frozen and we just like to quilt anyway!  This week five Mora Quilting Friends made the long, long journey to The Pine City Scrapbooking Co. in Pine City.  It's really not very far and in 20-25 minutes we were checking in and hauling in carloads of projects.

Ron and Marni are the owners of this 12 bedroom retreat center and scrapbooking store.  They are so accommodating and nice!!!  We threaten to go back again in late Feb.  Yay!

Here are a few pictures of one of the projects we each worked on...

 

Deb is working on a wall hanging that has had her
stymied but she's now on the way to finishing it! Yay!
 

 

Won't it be gorgeous???

 

 

Mary Ann has used Christmas prints in

combination with light fabrics and as you can tell

she's a happy woman!!!

 

 

Theresa completed her foundation (newspaper)

pieced quilt blocks with scraps she's collected.

 

 

Barb worked on this pretty fall appliqued wall hanging!

 

 

And I got my new Scottie Dog nap quilt tied and buttoned up!

So that's how I spent three days and two nights last week.  I feel so relaxed now and I'm going to really try not to get stressed out again.  I think I inherited that part of my personality so I'm not sure how successful I will be.

Take care,

Bonnie

Cleaning Up The Kitchen and Elsewhere...

My faithful companion, Annie, on her perch
while I make a creative mess in the kitchen!

It's just time to clear off the kitchen table and island and bring everything upstairs to my cluttered craft room. I tricked myself into getting this done by inviting friends for supper. Procrastinating for this long is now over...

It's not that I'm just sitting here doing nothing...but regular, every day things get pushed way to the side while I create stuff. This is nothing new - I've been working this angle since the '70's with a brief pause in the '90's when I actually worked at a big corporation. It was time to get benefits and a regular check. So when I retired, I once again was possessed with creating...creating messes throughout my whole house. No, I mean projects in every room - on every flat surface...regularly.

It's not even Thanksgiving but the shop I supply crafts to just had their Holiday Open House. I am not complaining in the least bit but its still a good four weeks to Christmas and things are still flying out of the door and into people's homes.

Job security...but a messy house. All of this is changing tomorrow. It will be a Saturday filled with hauling things up the steps and into my almost filled craft room. Sigh!

I'm so lucky to be so busy doing what I love to do...making creative messes all over my house...except in the kitchen - starting tomorrow.

Take care,

Bonnie

Punkins For Sale!

So many ways to make pumpkins...so I made three out of fabric for fall decorating.  I'm already on to making stuff for the Christmas Open House but really we need to decorate for fall now!!!

A patch of punkins'

 

Gingham..."give comfort"

 



Burlap..."blessed"

 



Corduroy..."inspire memories"

So take your pick in the punkin' patch and decorate before the snow flies and piles up!!!

Take care,

Bonnie

 

Burlap Wreath...

I made another burlap wreath on a wire frame.  I cut and tied a bizillion strips of burlap to the form.  I like the way it turned out.  The other one I made was narrower strips and took way longer to cover a smaller frame

 

 

Now I have to embellish it...not much - just a little something.

Thought you'd like to see the process...I still don't know how I'll embellish it but I can look later again and see which one strikes me!

Tomorrow better be more fruitful than today...I hope, I hope!

Take care,
Bonnie

Another Quilt Camp Over...

Just wrapped up another successful Stitchin' Chicks Quilt Camp...and since I've been home, a nice long nap!  We dragged a car full of stuff in the house...made a pizza for lunch...started to watch the Vikings football game...and fell asleep until it was over!  But while I slept - we won!!!  Yay!

I was pretty worn out from our last two weekend Farmgirls sales so I came home with some dread disease...actually probably just a cold but ache all over, sore throat, yada, yada, yada. 

I finished two quilt tops - one for me for my nap time and one for my granddaughter Addy's nap and TV time!

I love Scottie dogs!  Made from Woolies flannel...
"Remembering Katie" designed by Grace Wilson for Maywood Studio
purchased at Keepsake Quilting.

 

 

 Addy picked out the fabrics and Gram sewed it at camp! 

She loves Barbie!

 

Addy will help me tie her quilt soon!

 

 

The Christmas burlap items going to Zimmermann's in Mora!

 

Annie missed me - she took her post at the back door for a couple of days just waiting for me to come home...missed my little family.  January is our next camp and its 6 nights and 7 days...might have to have lunch with Hubby and Annie half way through camp!

 

Take care,

 

Bonnie

Fall Swap

Look at what I received from Karen in the Fall Banner Swap!!!  Thanks so much, Karen!  It was like Christmas around here when her package arrived!

 

Karen sent such cute things and I love the burlap banner!
Now I have to decorate my mantel!

Look at all the goodies!!!  I love white pumpkins and the candles
smell so good!  That medallion makes me want to make some to
share!  I think the blackbird needs to hang on the banner along
with the medallion...

 

Here are the rules that Deb at Garage Sale Gal (her blog) set up for us:

Swap "rules": spell out F-A-L-L on the banner made with either paper or fabric. That means 4 pieces. Include 5 fall related items, one NEW one. Contact your partner to meet her and find our her likes. Get her address too! Wrap pretty and mail out on or before Sept 11th. Post Sept 25th.

So you see - I'm late in posting!!! Darn! 

Karen has a lovely blog also - check out her blog Shabby Brocante  When you get there you can see what a great photographer she is also.  Quite a talented lady.  So glad we met and now I can see her treasures - we both love transferware amongst other things!

Thanks again to Karen for all the fun stuff and to Deb for setting things up for us!!!

Take care,

Bonnie



 

The Miss Emily Kae is Home!!!

Yesterday, Miss Emily Kae came home to roost!  My new vintage 1968 Manorette trailer is now sitting outside by my gardens where I can see her from my computer.

My son and daughter in law bringing her home!!!

 

This is what I see when I'm at my computer!

 

Nestled in by my raised gardens... 

 

My trailer-warming gift from my friend, Judy!

 



A few things going out to the trailer

 after I get it cleaned up!

 

I have my little four cup coffee pot ready.  I'm looking for a small toaster oven and microwave.  I have a couple of shelves that need to be painted red, a small aqua corner cabinet and a red magazine rack. 

 

Pretty soon she will be so filled up that I won't be able to move it out of the yard...I am trying to limit my decorating items!!!

 

Take care - I'll be updating "Miss Em" soon!

 

Bonnie