new fabrics and a few projects

While I haven't made much progress on my UFO's, I am quilting the scrappy log cabin and hope to be finished with that soon.

I'm anxious to finish it up so I can start some new projects.  I bought some fabrics at IKEA that would like to use for tote bags.  It's home decor weight and the scale is huge.

Here are a couple of pretty bird prints from IKEA that I have no plans for yet.

And some Nicey Jane, a little Merry Christmas to me.

I did get a couple of last minute Christmas projects finished last week.  A necklace for my sister-in-law, cut from silver sheet.

And a table topper for my mom.  I used this tutorial and put Insul-Bright inside so hopefully she can use it for hot items too.

I can't believe 2010 is almost here!  Best wishes to you and yours for a happy new year!

Let the holiday begin!

Well, the chocolate ricotta tart was delicious.  I highly recommend it if you like chocolate and hazelnuts. Here's the recipe again.  I made my first fruit pie this year, an apple pie with Pink Lady apples.  It turned out great.  I was so excited!  The crust was flaky yummy, but it did slide down into the pie plate a little and was too thick on the edges.  I'll have to work on that next time.  I don't think I know the proper way to handle the edges.

I finished my sister-in-law's necklace.  I think she really liked it.  The little paw turned out perfect.  Shea wants a paw now, so I'll have to make her one too.

We put the tree up last night, but didn't get it decorated yet.  Rather than rushing to his aid, I grabbed the camera as my hubby yelled for help behind the tree when he knocked some frames off the wall.  He was pinned to the wall to keep everything from falling.  Somehow, we thought it was funnier than he did.

  

We've got a day of decorating ahead of us and maybe we'll brave a trip to Target or something.  This Thanksgiving school holiday has flown by!

Respirators, Muffins, and Knitting

My sister-in-law has requested a new initial pendant.  I usually stamp sterling sheet and stamp the letter into the metal, but I decided to try torch firing a PMC pendant. Sean was priming some airplane parts in the garage and it was quite smelly, so I donned my respirator to try to avoid the smell. Nice look, eh!

Torch firing the PMC was easy and fast.  I held it a red glow for 10 minutes and it finished up nicely.  I don't have much experience with wax carving (for casting) or PMC, which have a lot of the same properties to me.  I much prefer fabrication, but I do like the hand-wrought look of PMC.

 

I baked some cranberry muffins this morning, but something was off.  The batter was very sticky.  I try not to over mix, but maybe I stirred a tiny bit too much when I folded in the cranberries.  Doesn't that make them too glutenous?  They are really dense and didn't rise.  But, they still taste wonderful and I have the entire dozen to myself since I'm the only one in the house that eats cranberries!  Yum!

I've been working on my Green Gable sweater trying to cross something else off my Joy in the New Year challenge list.  

Playing blog catch-up...

I haven't been in the mood to blog lately, but I have been working on a few projects. I can post the current things later, but here's some of what's been going on...

A quick baby blanket for a couple at church. It's lightweight with cotton on the back and no batting. She was a Texas summer baby, so I thought this would be appropriate. It's the first quilt I hand tied rather than quilted.

Here's another baby blanket gift for a couple at church. It's a rag quilt; my first one. I did it without instructions, so I'm sure there's an easier way, but it turned out cute and I saw them actually using it. I LOVE seeing these things actually being used!

I made a little pin cushion for a sweet friend.

Shea made a pillow case. I love to see her sew!

I knitted Shea a sock on the way to Florida. This was in the hotel room. I'm not sure what I got distracted with on the way back, because she still has only one sock. Humm.

I got my sewing space set up in the temporary house. It was kind of messy in this photo. I'll take another when it's been picked up.

Gizmo, my 12 year old Yorkie with cataracts, found a cozy place to sleep in the sewing room.

I made a test block for a string quilt. I love it! I started on one using some of my Heather Bailey fabric. I'll post it later.

I made this necklace for a wonderful woman who speaks at my church's ladies fellowship each month. It's an empty tomb and says "he is risen". I don't have upper-case alphabet stamps yet, but I'm sure He understands.

I finished a re-upholstery project I started about three years ago. And I found another chair just like great-grandmother's chair at the antique mall! I snatched it up and can't wait to finish it so I'll have a pair! It's a Kroehler chair from the early 1950's.

And lastly, on November 1st, I ran the New York City Marathon.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

I realize now there have been a few things I've done that I don't have photos of, and some of those have been given away.

I've got the jewelry studio operational again and have done some painting too. I'm back in that spot where I have so many things going that I don't know where to start!